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The Stars play tonight against the Warman Wildcats at the Access Communications Centre at 7:30 PM. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)
Battlefords AAA Stars

‘We never had any quit in our players’: AAA Stars drop two games in opening weekend

Oct 2, 2024 | 5:02 PM

It may not have been the result they wanted but the Battlefords AAA Stars showed no quit in their 5-4 home opener loss against the Regina Pat Canadians this past Saturday at the Access Communications Centre.

“We never had any quit in our players. They were down 5-1 going in the third and the kids worked hard and we were able to get three goals to make it 5-4, but strategy wise, we’re just a little behind Regina,” said Head Coach, Dale Grayston.

The Stars had a chance at redemption the following night as they played Regina again on Sunday, but unfortunately they couldn’t grab the win, this time losing 3-0 to the Pat Canadians.

Despite the losses and 0-2 start, Grayston says it’s the little details that need work and they are hoping to see big improvement.

“There’s just so many little details that we have to have in our game and it should be really apparent to the players that we lock them in. We’ve got to improve our checking skills because a lot of stuff that happened on the weekend was self-inflicted. So we’ll work hard on that this week and hopefully do a better job in terms of all the wall battles during the game and also just getting to work on our hockey sense in terms of reading plays, we’re really hoping we’ll see a big improvement.”

Kash-Alger East was the top performer for the Stars, grabbing one point and one assist throughout the two games. This is Alger-East’s third year with the U18 Stars, but prior to the games on the weekend, he had only skated with the team twice this season as he was with the Victoria Royals of the WHL throughout the pre-season.

“It’s nice to have him back. He had just skated twice with us prior to the weekend, so we are just getting him back and so now I think a lot of the chemistry will start to happen between him and his line mates.” Grayston said.

The Stars get back on the ice tonight against the Warman Wildcats at the Access Communications Centre at 7:30 PM. Then the team heads to Regina for the weekend to take on the Regina Pat Canadians again on Friday, Oct. 4 and Saturday, Oct. 5.

austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes